Comments on: How to save $149,850 per nanotechnology experiment

By: NanoEnthusiast

NanoEnthusiast — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 04:13:29 +0000

Perhaps we need at least the option to export in a universal format, but still have formats unique to each software package. Most word processors and 3d animation packages have data formats that are used only by the vendor, and yet you can still export to something neutral and continue where you left-off in another package. At any rate, NanoEngineer-1 is supposed to be released as open source, so there will be plenty of documentation regarding their file format(s) in the source code. Licensing issues permitting, there will be ways for other software to import and export NanoEngineer-1 files either natively or through plug-ins.

By: Carlos Bray

Carlos Bray — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 02:28:14 +0000

I think it’s a moot point because once there was a need for translation from one format to another some guy will make a program for just that very thing. The exact same way there are programs that allow you to change the format of a image file.

By: John Novak

John Novak — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 16:41:29 +0000

I respectfully disagree.

At this stage of the game, the best format for nanotech simulations is not known. The virtue in the babel situation is this: by not agreeing to a particular set of files and formats and methodologies, the babel promotes experimentation and exploration of the design space, making it more likely that over time, even better approaches than the ones we have now will be discovered. Early centralization and pre-mature convergence are bad things, not good things.

Moreover, I find it exceedingly unlikely that there will be found a universally “best format” for these sorts of things, any more than there is a universally “best programming language” even after decades of research into computer science. The lesson taken from computer science, rather, is that different goals are enabled by different techniques.

We don’t want total anarchy, no, but we don’t want total conformity, either.

By: NanoEnthusiast

NanoEnthusiast — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 00:19:42 +0000

It is my understanding that the Nanorex software has specific tools relevant to MNT work, i.e. tools to help define MNT parts (like bearings) parametrically that can then be optimized at a later stage to reduce chemical instabilities. From what little I can tell, this package would not have any of that. This package however, has tools relevant to general crystalline growth and nanotube creation as basic primitives.

I hope that there is, or will emerge, a standard file format for this kind of work. It does no one any good to have a tower of Babel situation where different research communities can’t use each others files. Also it is important (in order to head off any skepticism) to make sure that any interesting discoveries made in NanoEngineer-1 can be easily duplicated in other software applications.